Kusotare
Kusotare was a pirate captain in Shipwreck Cove who cared little for authority and was often stirring up trouble wherever he went. He set his eyes on the newly arrived group of women, including Unithien Greyrain and Varalia Earthhaven, and collaborated with Gilgamesh and his associates to seize the women. His plans were thwarted by Oscar Locke and Susumu Kawamoto who killed him. Biography Early Years Kusotare was born a bastard child who was bullied as a result in his Yamatian village. One day he grew angry enough and beat a bully to death in a fit of rage, after which he had to flee from his community. He ended up becoming a pirate like so many vagrants did, and he eventually grew to become a feared pirate captain with a crew who slaughtered anyone he wanted. His adventures led him to align with the Blue Dragons although this alliance was nothing more than a means to provide him with a good base of operations. After surviving the Battle of Jade Sea and the Cataclysm, Kusotare and his crew relocated to Shipwreck Cove with the Blue Dragons and continued to raid merchant vessels and military ships that ended up in their path in the following years. He never felt comfortable having to answer to Pirate King Kuro Tori but saw enough of the Pirate King's enemies die to bide his time. Godslayer Era New Interests Kusotare and some of his crew members learned of the arrival of a gaijin group to the Cove and that this group included several women whom Kusorate deemed beautiful enough to have his way with. He kept an eye on the group's movements and when he saw Unithien Greyrain and Varalia Earthhaven leave the Corsair's Grin tavern with Uminoko Kawamoto, he decided to ambush them despite knowing that Kuro Tori himself had set his eyes on the women in question beforehand. However, the resulting brawl took an unexpected turn when the Scun priest Wes appeared and attacked the pirates to teach them some manners. Kusotare was less than pleased to see not only the Scun but the women to hold their own against his crew, and he grew increasingly frustrated by this act of defiance. The skirmish in the alley continued and was joined by Oscar Locke, a healer known among pirates, who wished to end the bloodshed. Despite Oscar's attempts at diplomacy, Kusotare wasn't willing to back up and summoned reinforcements to take down anyone who stood his way as he still wanted to get his hands on the women. Before the brawl could begin anew, Hiroki Hyuga appeared, and Kusotare recognized him as the Pirate King's personal slave. Hiroki remained calm and managed to threaten the pirate captain with a cruel punishment if he kept harassing the women any more. Realizing that his crew might be outnumbered if Hiroki had brought reinforcements with him, Kusotare decided to flee but not before promising them that this wouldn't be the last time they'd see him. Clash at the Docks Kusotare told the truth, and trapped Varalia and Unithien on the docks of Shipwreck Cove when he discovered them trying to flee the Cove the following night. The pirate captain's associate, the warrior Gilgamesh, fought Varalia while Kusotare went to intercept Unithien. It became apparent to Unithien and Varalia that Kusotare's earlier ambush had actually been premeditated and that he had been collaborating with Gilgamesh and possibly someone else to capture Unithien specifically, even if it meant angering Kuro Tori himself. When Susumu Kawamoto attempted to rescue the beaten Varalia from drowning, Kusotare tried to stop him. Oscar butted in yet again by arriving on the scene in search of Unithien and Varalia who he had noticed missing earlier. Tgether, Susumu and the paladin fought the pirate captain. Kusotare argued that he and Susumu should finish their duel by themselves and that Oscar had no right to interfere, but the paladin remained stubborn and turned the duel into a 2-vs-1 battle against Kusotare. Before long, other people from the Cove joined the fray too and sided with Oscar and Susumu against Kusotare's rogue crew who were now viewed as traitors. Despite being cunning pirates, Kusotare's crew appeared to act less rationally than usual, allowing Oscar and Susumu's friends to overcome them during the battle. Little did anyone know that the crew's sudden change in behaviour was actually caused by the magic of Persephone Barca who belonged to the same group as Gilgamesh. Persephone had deemed the stubborn, loudmouthed and free-spirited Kusotare as a threat to her associates' plans and decided to speed up the demise of the pirate captain and his rogue crew before they would accidentally reveal the shadowy conspirators' existence to the supporters of Kuro Tori. During the clash, Kusotare noticed not only a frenzy of sharks gathering in the water of the docks but also something bigger, but he didn't have time to ponder whether the new beast was an abnormally large shark or not because he was busy enough dealing with both Oscar and Susumu at the same time. Death By the end of the battle, Kusotare was stabbed in the butt by Oscar using magic, bitten in the butt by a bull shark following that, stabbed in the gut by Susumu while fending off the bull shark, and finally decapitated by another of Oscar's magic tricks. The rogue captain remained defiant to the end, however, and fought to his very last breath. Legacy The conspirators viewed Kusotare as an acceptable loss due to him having outlived his usefulness to their cause. The rogue actions of Kusotare and Gilgamesh made some of the conspirators act more openly to ensure that Unithien, who had been taken by the sea serpent Kusotare had spotted during the clash, could be returned to their fold. Ironically Kusotare's fears about the Cove losing itself to darkness and demons becoming a threat turned out to be correct but few paid any attention to his warnings because he was already viewed as a power-hungry rebel at that point. Aliases and Nicknames ; Kusotare : His real name was unknown. Instead he used the Yamatian word for bastard, Kusotare, as his name and wielded it proudly to signify how menacing a pirate he was. Appearance A rough, muscular man with short, dark hair and gloomy eyes. He's dressed in a dirty shirt which barely resembled an outfit a pirate captain would wear. Personality and Traits He's a mean, not-so-lean fighting machine who had little respect for authority and who followed his basic instinct more often than not. However, he was smart enough to realize when he's outnumbered and when he should retreat. He tended to be arrogant and saw women as little more than playthings to mess with. He had an absurdly skewed view of 'honor,' as evidenced by the fact that he scoffed at the gaijin Oscar's butting in on Susumu's fight, despite having tried to stab the pirate in the back moments earlier. Although he despised foreigners and people associated with the former Shogunate, he despised demons even more and wished to restore Yamato to humans. Powers and Abilities Skilled in the use of a cutlass and daggers. Relationships Hiroki Hyuga Kusotare didn't hold Hiroki in high esteem, calling him a Hyuga dog and threatening him in their meeting in the alley. Hiroki saw Kusotare as yet another lowly pirate who didn't know any better. Oscar Locke Kusotare seemed to think that Oscar was a being both helpless and entirely spineless. This was a mistake, but he didn't know it until he ended up facing the paladin in combat. He scoffed at Oscar's butting in on Susumu's fight as 'honorless' despite having tried to stab the man in the back. Oscar showed him no mercy and killed him mid-sentence. Susumu Kawamoto Kusotare saw Susumu as a drunk who should've stayed out of his way. He openly mocked him and challenged him to a pirate duel before the duel turned more uneven when Oscar butted in. Even when he was about to die, he wanted to take Susumu with him. See also *Blue Dragon *Hiroki Hyuga *Oscar Locke *Shipwreck Cove *Susumu Kawamoto Category:Blue Dragon Category:Characters Category:Humans Category:Third Age Category:Yamato